Ground engaging tools such as earth loaders, excavators, scrapers and rippers are provided with teeth or ripper tips which are carried upon mounting stubs. In the case of equipment such as loaders and excavators, the stubs are integral parts of adapters of which a series are bolted in spaced relationship along the leading edge of the bucket; while in the case of rippers each ripper shank has a stub end which receives the ripper tip or tooth. Commonly, the teeth have parallel sidewalls which define two sides of a socket that receives the mounting stub, and holes in the sidewalls align with a transverse through bore in the stub to receive a retaining pin. Convenienty, the retaining pin is held in place by a split washer which is seated in a recess in one face of the stub surrounding an end of the through bore where it is held in place by abutment with the inner surface of the adjacent tooth sidewall, and the retaining pin has a circumferential groove in which the split washer engages to firmly lock the retaining pin in place.
The above described arrangement provides a very strong mounting for the tooth or ripper tip, but makes it difficult to mount the teeth or remove them for replacement because very substantial force must be applied to the retaining pin to free it from the split washer. There is no great problem during initial factory assembly, because hydraulic or pneumatic driving tools may be used to push the end portion of the pin through the washer until the washer snaps into the groove in the pin. Replacement of teeth in the field has presented difficult problems because of the lack of any suitable compact, manually operated tool which may be easily carried in a tool box of such a machine.
U.S. Pats. Nos. 2,546,457 and 3,106,256 disclose excavator teeth which are retained by means which make them readily removable by the use of a tool which is basically a specialized C-clamp; but it is quite apparent that such tools would be of no use for removing retaining pins of the type which are held by a split washer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,928 discloses a hydraulically operated portable pin press which may be used to expel broken connector pins from the tracks of tracked vehicles; but it is not readily adaptable for use in the field.